FCS1332343 Complete Strut Assembly

I bought a pair of these for my Lesabre after the Monroe equivalents failed after a little more than two years. The Monroe strut on the passenger side started binding and popping. These bolted right in except for the holes on either side of the strut where the brake line and speed sensor lead brackets bolt on. The holes should have been tapped to accept the bolts, but there were no threads in either of the two struts I received. The holes were set in further than the brackets would line up with. As luck would have it, a 1/4" x 2-1/2" bolt fits through the unthreaded holes and with a little bending of the brackets holds everything together quite nicely. I put a 1/4" stop nut on the other side and finished the installation. This issue required no drilling or tapping. It did require me to spring my brackets a little, but I'm just glad to fix it as simply as I did. If you don't have guide brackets that bolt on the side of the strut, this will not be an issue for you. If you do, grab a couple of bolts and get on with life. I was so dissapointed that the Monroe strut failed as quickly as it did. Then to top it off, the driver side strut didn't want to come off. The round nut welded under the top of the strut came unwelded and I couldn't remove the bolt as the nut turned with the bolt. At this point, I lost all patience and locked a visegrip on the welded nut. Then I turned my impact wrench up all the way and just snapped the bolt off (new hardware is supplied with the struts). I would give these a 4.5 but I couldn't quite give them a 5. The car rides and handles nice, and everything feels like it is still in alignment. The Monroes didn't last long enough to justify the almost double price. I would buy these again if needed.

I purchased these for my 2002 Lesabre, Finally got them installed and here is my analysis.Positives1) The installation was easy, everything lined up installing them on the car2) The ride is great, not too hard, and the handling is improved.3) Did not even need an Alignment, Steering wheel still straight. You should always align your wheels after doing any work on your suspension, I have one more project to do then I will have and Alignment done.Negatives1) The mounting holes for the brake line and the ABS sensor were too far inboard, so I had to modify my brackets to get the bolts to line up. It ended up working, but it took me an extra 20 min each side to get them to fit. about 3/16" off.2) The ride ended up being about 1" higher than the rear. I do not know if my springs have settled, but I suspect they may have. However The fix was not hard if you have a working load leveler for the rear. To fix this, Remove Drivers side REAR wheel. You will see a little arm in the front part of the wheel well opening, remove the 10mm bolt, pull out on the bottom of the bracket and pull downwards to remove the unit. Take a Drill,(I think I used 9/32") and elongate the hole either make it 1/4" longer DOWN -OR- to the FRONT of the car. Then you can adjust the angle of the arm to the ride height of your liking. I figure about 3/16" made it 1" higher.

I bought a pair of these struts for our 2003 Buick LeSabre after reading other user reviews. The price was excellent when compared to other options. Another company offered a compatible strut cheaper, but the reviews sold me on the FCS model. I was able to install these myself in under 2 hours, that included set up and clean up time. Most shops will have your car longer than that, so you can actually save time as well as money when you do it yourself. The only issue was the mounts for the brake line and sensor brackets, as other reviewers have mentioned and told us how to fix. It took me a grand total of 10 minutes to bend the brackets with large pliers so they lined up with the holes, and then I ran a 1/4-20 x 2 1/2 inch hex bolt through the setup to tie it all together. I just hand tightened these to a bit past snug and used a lock nut. You may have to use a washer or two as well depending on the hardware you buy. The torque settings for the rest of the bolts are as follows. For the top three bearing plate bolts, torque to 35 foot pounds. For the two large bolts at the bottom, torque them to 135 foot pounds.

I installed these on my dads 2001 Buick a Lesabre about two or less months ago. My dads drives a lot so I figured they have been installed long enough to provide my review. If you know what you are doing they are not hard to install. They have elongated holes for the strut bolts to attach to the knuckle and the factory ones did not. I assume this is for alignment adjustments so it forces you to have to get it aligned right away. They are making some creaking noise from the upper mount bearings. Over all not bad for the price.

Put on a Buick Lesabre 2005. Rides great, car level like it should be. I tap and die (cut threads) into the hole for holding brake wire/cable/hose. Then had to bend the bracket some. No big deal for me. Price was good and they have been good for months now. They also cleared up the front end vibration that I read so many others have also struggled with fixing. The vibration problem is why I changed the struts. I was disappointed to be changing them at 47,000 miles. I thought that struts should last to around 80,000 like they did on my Windstar. As far as changing them It was very easy. It was much more of a challenge replacing them on the Windstar van. I'd buy them again.

These all in one units are a cost effective no-brainer to just buying struts by themselves. There are no dangerous springs to disassemble or additional parts to obtain because they are complete assembled units. You get new springs, bearings, hardware, mounts, boots, and of course the struts, ready to bolt in almost as easily as standard shocks used to be. I installed these on our Caddy DHS which uses standard passive struts and have had no issues with them. Be sure to clean all threads and torque all fasteners to factory spec.Keep in mind:1) You will need to tap the bolt holes for your ABS sensor brackets or just use different self taping bolts.2) You may need to bend the bracket slightly with large pliers for a perfect fit.No stars off for that because they are aftermarket parts after all

Easy install but a little stiff